Pathological compression of spinal neural and neurovascular structures most commonly results from a degenerative, age-related process, increasing in prevalence and severity in elderly populations, with potential congenital anatomic components, that result in back, radicular extremity pain and both neurological (e.g., sensory) and mechanical (e.g., motor) dysfunction. Prevalence is also influenced by congenital spinal anatomy. Disease progression leads to increased neural irritation, neural and neurovascular impingement, and ischemia, and is frequently accompanied by progressively increased pain, often in conjunction with reflex, sensory and motor neurological deficits.
In the United States, Spinal Stenosis occurs with an incidence of between 4 percent and 6 percent of adults 50 years of age or older, and is the most frequent reason cited for back surgery in patients 60 years of age and older.
Spinal Stenosis often includes neural and/or neurovascular impingement, which may occur in the central spinal canal, the lateral recesses of the spinal canal, or in the spinal neural foramina. The most common causes of neural compression within the spine are spinal disc disease (collapse, bulging, herniation); ligamentum flavum buckling, thickening and/or hypertrophy; zygapophysial (facet) joint hypertrophy; osteophyte formation; and spondylolisthesis.
Disease progression increases neural irritation, impingement, and ischemia, and is frequently accompanied by progressively increased pain, often in conjunction with reflex, sensory and motor neurological changes (e.g., deficits).
Current surgical treatments for Spinal Stenosis include laminectomy (usually partial, but sometimes complete), laminotomy and/or facetectomy (usually partial, but sometimes complete), with or without fusion. While standard surgical procedures (e.g., spinal decompressions) lead to improvements in symptoms for 6 months or more in approximately 60% of cases, there is an unacceptable incidence of long-term complications and morbidity: approximately 40% of patients do not obtain sustained improvement with current surgical decompressions.
Several companies offer tools that facilitate surgical access to the areas of the spine where neural impingement is likely to occur, in order to allow the surgeon to decompress the impinged neural structures through the removal of vertebral lamina, ligamentum flavum, facet complex, bone spurs, and/or intervertebral disc material. These surgical resections are frequently (i.e., occurs in 15% to 20% of cases) accompanied by fusion (arthrodesis). Spinal arthrodesis is performed to fuse adjacent vertebrae and prevent movement of these structures in relation to each other. The fusion is commonly a treatment for pain of presumed disc or facet joint origin; for severe spondylolisthesis; for presumed spinal instability; and for spines that have been rendered “unstable” by the surgical decompression procedures, as described above. The definition of “spinal instability” remains controversial in current literature.
Spinal arthrodesis may be achieved through various surgical techniques. Biocompatible metallic hardware and/or autograft or allograft bone is commonly placed (e.g., secured) anteriorly and/or posteriorly in the vertebral column in order to achieve surgical fusion. These materials are secured along and between the vertebral bodies (to restore vertebral height and replace disk material) and/or within the posterior elements, typically with pedicle screw fixation. Autograft bone is often harvested from the patient's iliac crest. Cadaveric allograft is frequently cut in disc shaped sections of long bones for replacement of the intervertebral discs in the fusion procedure.
Critics have frequently stated that, while discectomy and fusion procedures frequently improve symptoms of neural impingement in the short term, both are highly destructive procedures that diminish spinal function, drastically disrupt normal anatomy, and increase long-term morbidity above levels seen in untreated patients.
The high morbidity associated with discectomy may be due to several factors. First, discectomy reduces disc height, causing increased pressure on facet joints. This stress leads to facet arthritis and facet joint hypertrophy, which then causes further neural compression. The surgically-imposed reduction in disc height also may lead to neuroforaminal stenosis, as the vertebral pedicles, which form the superior and inferior borders of the neural foramina, become closer to one another. The loss of disc height also creates ligament laxity, which may lead to spondylolisthesis, spinal instability or osteophyte or “bone spur” formation, as it has been hypothesized that ligaments may calcify in their attempt to become more “bone-like”.
In addition, discectomy frequently leads to an incised and further compromised disc annulus. This frequently leads to recurrent herniation of nuclear material through the surgically created or expanded annular opening. It may also cause further buckling of the ligamentum flavum.
The high morbidity associated with fusion is related to several factors. First, extensive hardware implantation may lead to complications due to breakage, loosening, nerve injury, infection, rejection, or scar tissue formation. In addition, autograft bone donor sites (typically the patient's iliac crest) are a frequent source of complaints, such as infection, deformity, and protracted pain. Perhaps the most important reason for the long-term morbidity caused by spinal fusion is the loss of mobility in the fused segment of the spine. Not only do immobile vertebral segments lead to functional limitations, but they also cause increased stress on adjacent vertebral structures, thereby frequently accelerating the degeneration of other discs, joints, bone and other soft tissue structures within the spine.
Recently, less invasive, percutaneous approaches to spinal discectomy and fusion have been tried with some success. While these less invasive techniques offer advantages, such as a quicker recovery and less tissue destruction during the procedure, the new procedures do not diminish the fact that even less invasive spinal discectomy or fusion techniques are inherently destructive procedures that accelerate the onset of acquired spinal stenosis and result in severe long-term consequences.
Additional less invasive treatments of neural impingement within the spine include percutaneous removal of nuclear disc material and procedures that decrease the size and volume of the disc through the creation of thermal disc injury. While these percutaneous procedures may produce less tissue injury, their efficacy remains unproven.
Even more recently, attempts have been made to replace pathological discs with prosthetic materials. While prosthetic disc replacement is a restorative procedure, it is a highly invasive and complex surgery. Any synthetic lumbar disc will be required to withstand tremendous mechanical stresses and will require several years of development. Current synthetic disc designs can not achieve the longevity desired. Further, synthetic discs may not be an appropriate therapeutic approach to a severely degenerative spine, where profound facet arthropathy and other changes are likely to increase the complexity of disc replacement. Like most prosthetic joints, it is likely that synthetic discs will have a limited lifespan and that there will be continued need for minimally invasive techniques that delay the need for disc replacement.
Even if prosthetic discs become a viable solution, the prosthetic discs will be very difficult to revise for patients. The prosthesis will, therefore, be best avoided in many cases. A simpler, less invasive approach to restoration of functional spinal anatomy would play an important role in the treatment of neural impingent in the spine. The artificial discs in U.S. clinical trials, as with any first generation prosthesis, are bound to fail in many cases, and will be very difficult to revise for patients. The prostheses will, therefore, be best avoided, in many cases. Lumbar prosthetic discs are available in several countries worldwide.
In view of the aforementioned limitations of prior art techniques for treating neural and neurovascular impingement in the spine, it would be desirable to provide methods and apparatus for selective surgical removal of tissue that reduce or overcome these limitations.